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Lynsey Sharp

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Lynsey Sharp
Sharp competing at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Personal information
Born (1990-07-11) 11 July 1990 (age 34)
Dumfries, Scotland, United Kingdom
EducationEdinburgh Napier University[1]
Height1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Weight59 kg (130 lb) (2014)
Sport
Country Great Britain
 Scotland
SportAthletics
Event800 metres
Coached byDavid Harmer
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Great Britain
Diamond League
Second place 2015 800 m
Third place 2014 800 m
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2012 Helsinki 800 m
Silver medal – second place 2014 Zürich 800 m
European U23 Championships
Silver medal – second place 2011 Ostrava 800 m
Representing  Scotland
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place 2014 Glasgow 800 m
Commonwealth Youth Games
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Pune 800 m

Lynsey Sharp (born 11 July 1990) is a former Scottish track and field athlete who competed in the 800 metres. She is the 2012 European champion and represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.[2] She won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Her personal best is 1:57.69, the seventh[3] fastest time over 800m by a British woman, set in the final of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.[4]

Personal life

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Lynsey Sharp was born in Dumfries, Scotland and lived her early life in nearby Lochmaben. She is the daughter of former Scottish athletes Cameron Sharp and Carol Sharp (née Lightfoot). Her father won a 1982 European silver medal in the 200 m and competed at the 1980 Olympic Games, while her mother has an 800 m personal best of 2:02.91 and competed at the 1982 Commonwealth Games.

Sharp went to The Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh. She graduated with a 2:1 in Law (LLB) from Edinburgh Napier University in 2012 a few weeks before competing in the London Olympics. She has said she was inspired to study law after her father fought a medical negligence case following permanent injuries he sustained in a road crash.[5] She is also a fan of Scottish Premiership side Rangers.[6]

Sharp is married to fellow Scottish athlete Andrew Butchart. The couple have a son, Max, born in October 2021.[7]

Career

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As a teenager, Sharp competed at the IAAF World Youth Championships and IAAF World Junior Championships. In 2011, she improved her 800 m personal best by almost four seconds. In June, she took her best down from 2:04.44, to 2:02.48 in Watford then 2:01:98 in Prague. Then in July, at the European U23 Championships in Ostrava, she further improved to 2:00.65, to win a bronze medal. This would be upgraded to silver due to the 2013 disqualification of Elena Arzhakova.

In June 2012, at the UK Championships & Olympic trials, Sharp was a surprise winner of the 800 metres. Olympic qualifying rules stated that a country could send three athletes in an event provided they had achieved the A standard, or one athlete who had the B standard. Sharp only had the B standard, while four other British women had the A standard: an injured Jenny Meadows and three athletes who Sharp had defeated at the Olympic trials. A week after the trials, Sharp won a silver medal at the European Championships in Helsinki with a personal best of 2:00.52, a time that was still outside the A standard.[8] (This would be upgraded to gold the following year, after abnormalities were found in Elena Arzhakova's biological passport.[9] Arzhakova was stripped of both her 2012 European title and 2011 European U23 title.) The selectors decided to select Sharp and leave behind athletes including Meadows and Marilyn Okoro. At the Olympics, she ran 2:01.41 in her heat to qualify for the semi-finals, where she finished seventh in 2:01.78, failing to reach the final.

At the end of the 2013 season, Sharp had surgery on her ankle as it had become infected. This resulted in her competing throughout the 2014 season against medical advice with an open wound in her foot.[10] In July 2014, Sharp ran under two minutes in the 800 m for the first time, running 1:59.67 at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne. In August, at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, she ran 2:01.34 to win a silver medal in the 800 m.[11] The race was won by 2013 World champion Eunice Sum. The night before the Commonwealth 800 m final, Sharp suffered stomach cramps and sickness and had to be placed on a drip at the Poly-clinic at the Athletes' Village until 5:30 am on the morning of the race. Sharp's performance was hailed as "a miracle run".[12][13] Two weeks after the Commonwealth Games, she won a silver medal at the European Championships in Zürich in a time of 1:58.80, breaking Susan Scott's Scottish record of 1:59.02 and moving to eighth on the UK all-time list. The race was won by Maryna Arzamasava of Belarus in 1:58.15.

2016 Olympics

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Sharp finished sixth in the 800 metres final at the 2016 Rio Olympics, improving her own Scottish record to 1:57.69. Following the race, Sharp broke into tears and said that "it was difficult to compete against Caster Semenya and other hyperandrogenic athletes after the rule to suppress testosterone levels was overturned."[14] Sharp was criticised in the media when she appeared to ignore Semenya post-race while embracing fellow runners Joanna Jóźwik and Melissa Bishop.[15] Sharp has since clarified her comments, in a now-deleted Twitter post:

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Caster. She is someone who I talk to regularly on the circuit... When asked on live TV, I felt I gave an honest and diplomatic response.[16]

Sharp had previously claimed that "there were obvious athletes with heightened testosterone" and that there were "two separate races being run."[17]

2017–present

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Sharp ran 1:58.80 in the 800 metres at the Athletissima Lausanne Diamond League race in July 2017, then later in the month ran a season's best of 1:58.01 at the Herculis Monaco Diamond League. Three weeks later at the 2017 World Championships in London, she reached the 800 m final, finishing eighth in 1:58.98.

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Sharp was eliminated in the heats of the 800 m, running 2:01.63.

After competing throughout 2019, Sharp went on hiatus due to surgery to remove pre-cancerous cells followed by pregnancy, but stated that she intends to return to competition.[18]

Despite making a comeback in January 2023,[19] in December 2023, Sharp announced her retirement from international athletics.[20]

Achievements

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Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Great Britain
2007 World Youth Championships Ostrava, Czech Republic 15th (sf) 800 m 2:11.36
2008 World Junior Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 18th (sf) 800m 2:09.00
2011 European U23 Championships Ostrava, Czech Republic 2nd 800 m 2:00.65
2012 European Championships Helsinki, Finland 1st 800 m 2:00.52
2012 Olympic Games London, England, United Kingdom 20th (sf) 800 m 2:01.78
2014 European Championships Zürich, Switzerland 2nd 800 m 1:58.80
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 14th (sf) 800 m 1:59.33
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 6th 800 m 1:57.69
2017 World Championships London, United Kingdom 8th 800 m 1:58.98
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar 31st (h) 800 m 2:03.57
Representing  Scotland
2008 Commonwealth Youth Games Pune, India 3rd 800 m 2:06.77
2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom 2nd 800 m 2:01.34
2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia 14th (h) 800 m 2:01.33
6th 4 × 400 m 3:29.18
Representing  Europe
2014 Continental Cup Marrakech, Morocco 5th 800 m 2:00.80
1st Women's team 440.5 pts
(#) Indicates overall position in qualifying heats (h) or semifinals (sf)
  • All information taken from IAAF profile and power of 10 profile.[24][25]

Circuit wins and titles

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References

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  1. ^ "2018 CWG bio". Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  2. ^ Hart, Simon (3 July 2012). "Team GB athletics squad for London 2012 Olympics announced". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  3. ^ "Ranking List".
  4. ^ "2016 800m Olympic Final". Rio 2016 - Women's 800m final. Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  5. ^ "Lynsey Sharp". Edinburgh Napier University – Study – Be different. Edinburgh Napier University. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Rangers are in my blood, says Lynsey Sharp". The Scotsman. The Scotsman. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  7. ^ Susan, Egelstaff. "Returning to the top remains a huge challenge for mums". The National. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  8. ^ "Olympics: Lynsey Sharp grabs silver, but London looks out of reach". The Scotsman. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  9. ^ "Great Britain's Lynsey Sharp made European champion after 800m silver is upgraded". The Telegraph. 4 June 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  10. ^ Bloom, Ben (16 May 2015). "Lynsey Sharp prepares for surprise captaincy after 'coming of age' season". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  11. ^ "Commonwealth Games: Brave Lynsey Sharp wins silver".
  12. ^ English, Paul; McGivern, Mark (2 August 2014). "Glasgow 2014: Lynsey Sharp shrugs off hospital visit before 800m final at Hampden to win silver with a 'miracle' run". Daily Record. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  13. ^ "Glasgow 2014: Lynsey Sharp overcomes illness for 800m silver". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  14. ^ Jack Rathborn (21 August 2016). "Tearful Lynsey Sharp claims it is 'difficult' to compete with Caster Semenya after rule change". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  15. ^ Hart, Simon (3 July 2012). "Team GB athletics squad for London 2012 Olympics announced". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  16. ^ "Lynsey Sharp Twitter Response". Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  17. ^ Kathryn Snowdon (21 August 2016). "Lynsey Sharp Defends Caster Semenya Comments After Coming Sixth In Women's 800m Final In Rio". Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  18. ^ "Lynsey Sharp: Pregnant athlete not done with competing". BBC News. 18 May 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  19. ^ "Lynsey Sharp makes comeback from injury and child birth". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  20. ^ "Lynsey Sharp: Former European 800m champion retires from athletics". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Lynsey is Kurri Athlete of the Year... Again". Scottish Athletics. 28 October 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  22. ^ "Athlete of the Year 2014 short-lists". Scottish Athletics. 3 November 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  23. ^ "Noticeboard: Lynsey; Rio; Women in Sport; BUCS; CYG". Scottish Athletics. 1 May 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  24. ^ "Sharp, Lynsey Biography". IAAF. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  25. ^ "Athlete Profile". Thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  26. ^ "Results: Brussels Diamond League - Memorial Van Damme 2018". Watch Athletics. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
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